India to take up US’ U-turn on Saeed with Hillary clinton

India is going to raise the perceived U-turn by US over bounty on Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) chief patron Hafiz Saeed with visiting secretary of state Hillary Clinton next Tuesday after an American envoy to Pakistan went public saying that there was no reward on head of the leader of terror group.

US under-secretary for political affairs Wendy Sherman had told foreign secretary Rajan Mathai on April 2 that a bounty of $10 million had been placed on Saeed’s head for his role in 26/11 attacks in which six Americans were killed. However, US envoy to Pakistan Cameron Munter on April 28 did a 180 degree turn as he castigated the local media for misreporting on facts and said that there was no bounty of Saeed's head.

Munter told the Pakistani media on the sidelines of American Business Forum dinner in Lahore, that the US reward for justice programme was based on the information received that could lead to arrest or conviction of any UN’ s declared terrorist (not specifically for Hafiz) of any country.

While New Delhi asked its mission in Washington to get the exact quote of Munter’s statement, it wants to hear from Secretary Clinton whether US envoy’s remarks were made in private capacity or there is a shift in American stand. Munter’s statement comes at a time when New Delhi is picking up conciliatory efforts on part of US state department to accommodate Islamabad for buying peace in Afghanistan.